Along a popular downtown thoroughfare, at the corner of Felix and Short Streets, a second story window sports a decal that is both obvious and inconspicuous. It simply reads, “2nd Story.”
Through the door and up the stairs of the building numbered 522 W. Short Street is one of Lexington’s newest gallery spaces. Gallery founder and director Leah Kolb opened 2nd Story in September.
With a curatorial background at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOCA), Kolb moved to Lexington in the summer of 2022. She admits she was still settling into town and not actively looking for a space when she stumbled upon the would-be home for her new gallery that fall.
“My parents were visiting; we were on our way to the Mary Todd-Lincoln house when I saw the vacancy sign,” Kolb recalled. She ended up booking an appointment to see the space and fell in love with it.
“It gets great light and it’s small — a perfect space for building the foundation for something truly special,” she said.
Though 2nd Story is still in its infancy, Kolb has big plans for the organization. Her next objective is to bring to Lexington the Bridge Work program, a mentorship program and professional development plan for emerging artists that she co-founded in Madison with friend Steven Yi.
“We invite artists to apply. If selected, they get free studio space and a series of exhibition opportunities,” Kolb explained. Other aspects of the program include studio visits with other curators and dealers to give feedback for artists, as well as assistance with artist statements and website design — all of the things you need to be a working artist.
“It’s not just about giving them shows, but really mentoring them,” she explained.
Following the success of its first exhibition, which featured the work of John Hitchcock, an indigenous artist from Oklahoma, 2nd Story is currently showcasing a solo exhibit by Kentucky artist Hannah Smith called “Homestyle,” featuring playful motorized assemblages using a variety of found materials. The overall aesthetic of the exhibit, which has been referred to as “abject Americana,” ultimately reflects the disillusionment of the working class and the failure of the American Dream.
“Contemporary art is a way to engage with fantastic ideas and concepts, and blend them with reality in an approachable way,” Kolb said. “These are important issues that we’re all talking and thinking about.”
Smith described working with Kolb and the gallery as “an incredibly joyful experience.”
“Not only does [Leah] have experience collaborating with high-caliber artists, but she is a supportive and energetic presence,” Smith continued. “Her kindness, support and enthusiasm were pivotal in every aspect of realizing this show, from conceptualization to creation and installation.”
So far, the gallery has focused its lens on the contemporary work of artists from all over the country, with radically diverse backgrounds — artists who, Kolb explains, are engaging in ideas that she thinks are important to bring to the forefront. When it comes to the gallery’s role in bringing these diverse voices to Lexington’s art community, she said she wants her gallery to “allow us to get into the weeds of all of our shared stuff,” including concepts and ideas that could offend some people.
“This is a safe space to dig around in there and talk it through,” she said. “How can we communicate with people who have different points of view if we just cut the conversation off?”
While 2nd Story might be the new kid on the block in the Lexington art community, another small gallery space that’s also working to showcase unique perspectives through contemporary art and community programming is practically an institution. A stalwart among local art enthusiasts since 2009, the gallery Institute 193 will celebrate its 15th anniversary this fall.
Institute 193, a cornerstone of contemporary art in Lexington, recently hired a new executive director, Keelan O’Sullivan. Photo furnished
Originally opened at 193 North Limestone by Phillip March Jones, the gallery recently moved its exhibit space into a new, larger space down the street at 215 North Limestone. A former butcher shop, the new gallery space is teeming with character: Tin ceiling tiles and turn-of-the-century flourishes give the space a lived-in feel that seems to disappear into the background as it highlights some of the South’s most ambitious and unique artists. Much like 2nd Story, many of the artists shown at Institute 193 come from marginalized backgrounds, though Institute 193 differs in that it focuses almost exclusively on artists who hail from the southern region of the United States.
“Historically this neighborhood has been [home to] marginalized communities,” Reba Mariarty, the gallery’s development officer, explained. “I think we offer people a place to see themselves in the cultural landscape of the south. We showcase people with dynamic life experiences and identities.”
This mission has been evident in recent installations like “Pagan Babies,” which highlighted southern queer life back to the 19th century, and the current installation, “Everyday Love.” Created by Alabama-based African-American artist Richard Dial, a former machinist who welds metals discarded in his shop, “Everyday Love” portrays anthropomorphized narratives.
“We focus on artists who document the cultural landscape of the modern south, artists with dynamic stories who have work with intention behind it,” Mariarty said. “I have found that great artists tend to start a conversation about what’s happening in our world, if not more specifically, our little microcosm of the larger world.”
With 93 exhibitions and a decade-and-a-half of local prestige in its corner, Institute 193 has no intention of resting on its laurels. The future looks bright, with new executive director Keelan O’Sullivan coming on board this April. The gallery has also launched a publishing company that currently has 23 books in print, each title a beautifully constructed deep dive into the work of a specific contemporary artist. The long-term goal is to pivot the publishing company into an independent bookstore.
The gallery is also looking to give back to the community that has supported it all of these years. This spring, the gallery will launch the Institute 193 STEM Art Program, an education program that will operate out of the gallery’s space as well as in schools, libraries and many other art-centric locations around Lexington. The program will develop partnerships with organizations supporting underrepresented student groups, such as minority groups, at-risk youth and houseless youth. The program has a goal of working with 200 children over the inaugural six-month period.
“We’re trying to remind children of the resources they have access to that they didn’t even know about,” Mariarty said of the initiative. “Libraries offer so much more than just books anymore. One has a podcast studio, and there’s one with a 3-D printer. It’s really easy for all of that to get lost in the noise, or you’re too intimidated to show up because you don’t know what you’re doing. We want kids to be creative and know that there are so many outlets for the artist each of them has inside.
“I remember what it was like as a kid, to walk by a place like Institute 193 or 21C, and think, ‘I shouldn’t go in there.’ And not really having a good reason, just feeling like I don’t belong in there. Nobody ever invited me in and just asked, ‘What do you want to do in here?’ That’s what we’re hoping to do for Lexington’s young artists,” she continued.
With so much happening in these galleries, the future feels electric for both spaces. Neither seems content to simply bolster or showcase current contemporary artists, but yearns to foster the next generation as well.
Building a convergence of contemporary art in Lexington, which is also home to the indelible contemporary art museum and hotel 21c Lexington, is an important step toward that future.
“We’re so glad 2nd Story has opened,” Mariarty said of the new gallery. “We feel that modern art is a reflection of what is happening in our society, through an artist’s experience. The more perspectives we can look at it through, the better overall picture we get.”
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Recent exhibitions at Institute 193 included “Pagan Babies,” a study of southern queer life. Photo furnished
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Recent exhibitions at Institute 193 included “Pagan Babies,” a study of southern queer life. Photo furnished
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The exhibit “A Dark and Bloodied Ground” by John Hee Tae Chak, who merges historic maps, East Asian brush paintings, Western oil paintings and photos of wooden masks to explore our collective of mutating stories, was also recently on display at Institute 193. Photo furnished